COLOR-BLINDNESS.

Clutha Leader, Issue 221, 4 October 1878, Page 5

COLOR-BLINDNESS.

The writer of Science Gossip in the ■Melbourne Leader says : " Quite ai 1 oppressive mass of statistics' bearing on the prevalence of color-blindness has been produced lately, and yet there is ; nothing satisfactory about them. It has, for in- i stance, been ascertained ; that out of up- [ wards .pf 5000 children — 2761 boys and, 2318 girls —76 of the former and only one of the latter were found, to be color-blind. The question here arises,ihow far is, this result to be attributed to; defective educa-, j.tion, and how far to organic defect* Girls are more exercised ,th£,n boys on the subject of color, and it is just possible iliat; only one, if one j of the' boys had any defect in his vision. Very young children cannot describe colours at all, although they doubtless perceive and deacrimiriate I them. Even grown, persons wjfio have I nothing the matter with their VeyW do I not agree in the names they give to related colours. , , The colour of. the eyes I. themselves is a puzzle to most people. There are really : no- standards of colour, such as there areof, weight and measure, and consequently there is a wide ''margin for difference of opiniorii ; The statistics, moreover, allege that Christians are not so subject as Jews to defects of vision, so ' far at least as the boys are concerned, for I the Jewish girls are absolutely free from optical defects of this kind. There may , be foundation" for ihesUjbemeiit,'but it is quite as likely that the dDaervers carried their mania for. statistics, too far, arid ! pushed their refinements to the verge of absurdity . ; Perhaps we shall : next be told that thpre is a' difference between j, [Tories and Radicals, or between church-, men and , dissenters, ',xn ; ', this particular. The demand for -statistics on; this, subject was raised by exaggerated ; statements respepfciiig 'the -defects ' 6f ; railway servants., .' On f drine? il h "ay e ex^r ekae'd; my', . .disbelief in these s.tate^e^.ts.'^^rejndv^r; : was -a railway accident,f,sojfar as^myj'idb--1 servatidn ' extends, which : was^ not,: fully' accounted for'by very 'substantial reasons' apart from . the optical qualifications •of those who had a hand in them ; and it must be evident to. every one who takes the trouble to bestow, a thought on the subject that if there was only. one enginedriver' who could not tell the difference between red 'and .green'), ,the l chances for and against his having an accident at the first station of his; first night journey would be even,-' and it. would be a virtual impossibility for him ;to pass twenty stations' without a disaster, even though . his /.luck ' was greater than that, of ...jthey luckiest gamester who ever broke? & bank. ; Most of the! statistics about coloiir-blindriess come to us from Germany, arid their utter worthlessness should make us less reliant on otter -wonderful stories ;that toj n» - ! from the same quarter. The most recent i authenticated case- of colour-blindness is ' that of a clerk who was stispected; of : stealing postage stamps ; but. 'surely • the acceptance, of , the; excuse made, for him j that he was colouivblindi waß.;qijite aa strong evidence'Of mental obtuseness on .'the part of those who received it as satis- \ factory, tegally the^ccu^d was tJ perhaps . entitledtp^^theibanefit of the ,do : ubt,ibut .scientifically the. case adds nothing to the I weight of evidence as tbjthe prevaleiioe, ,6'f colpur-blindnessV; ; Travellers "may set , themgel yea-'.a^ .ease. If ~ !they/' are - riot to ■ , ! die till . th?y ivei killed; >by :{, |ne, JmistaJ k-e of a colour-blindh railway" ;serya^i.t 5 (hey are [likely to live for ever: oThereds not on !re- ; k&ord'a'.sing'fo.^ | .blihjdnesS.';":: f To th^v.suggestilin'^thajb such ■ j a : thing: ,mayr happen^ th^e; answer vip^it" iia¥not;happeried^yetiVa ~%iisshC:A;?£ \ l \?. '■'-,<